VILLAGE OF LIVERPOOL – Now celebrating its 17th anniversary, the Silverwood Clarinet Choir is a 14-piece ensemble that encompasses all the voices of a true choir.
Led by founders Ken and Kathy Freer of Manlius, the group performs original compositions as well as arrangements of well-known pieces – music in all styles from around the world – music that is both entertaining and challenging. Its instrumentalists are from Oswego, Onondaga, Madison and Cayuga counties.
The clarinet choir, conducted by Syracuse City School District music instructor Frederick Willard, will perform a free concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Liverpool Public Library.
The Silverwood Clarinet Choir (SCC) often opens its concerts with a charming composition showcasing seven families of clarinets.
Penned by British radio producer Luke Whitlock, the tune “Silverwood” was commissioned by the ensemble itself and now serves as a perfect calling card for the band. It’s a lively introduction to each of the choir’s 14 musicians.
As such, “Silverwood” sounds more like a friendly conversation than a cerebral exercise in music theory.
Its rippling rhythms give way to declaratory hellos, celebratory huzzahs and a few good-natured chuckles all punctuated by startling stop times.
As the cheerful melody unfolds, each of the clarinets – from the wailing E♭ sopranino to the roaring contrabass – makes a statement attesting to the musicians’ individual talent and enthusiasm. Whitlock’s composition also demonstrates an astonishing team spirit that lifts SCC head and shoulders above your run-of-the-mill chamber group.
The SCC stands proudly among the best clarinet choirs in the world, groups such as Toronto’s Wychwood Clarinet Choir, Los Angeles Clarinet Choir, Rochester’s New Horizons Clarinet Choir and England’s South Wales Clarinet Choir.
The SCC plays a wide array of music ranging from classical to popular. Debussy’s “Ballet from Petite Suite” and Prokofiev’s “Overture on Hebrew Themes” may be performed along with popular seasonal pieces such as “Reindeer Rag,” “Parade of the Tin Soldiers” or “A Christmas Jazz Medley.”
Conductor Frederick Willard began his professional career working with legendary Broadway orchestrator Michael Gibson with the hits of Kander and Ebb. Willard has been composer or lyricist on “Fractured Fairy Tales: The Musical,” “A Remarkable Story: Voices of Pan Am 103” and “Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief” presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Willard has toured Singapore, Colombia, Brazil and throughout the Eastern seaboard as a musical director and keyboardist. His arrangements have been performed by the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Melba Moore, Ronnie Leigh, the Central New York Jazz Orchestra and the Syracuse, Hartford and Tenerife symphony orchestras.
Sunday’s performance concludes the library’s fall concert series, “Resounding reeds,” which showcased saxophones and clarinets. The series was supported by a state grant administered by CNY Arts.